Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business on Business Talk 1110 AM KTEK (on Bloomberg’s home in Houston) recently interviewed Ashley Orndorff .

About the interviewee
Ashley Orndorff is the Director of Marketing at ParadoxLabs. She’s a self-proclaimed “nerd of many varieties,” who loves all things digital marketing, but has a special place in her heart for content, social media, and data-crunching.

Tell me about your firm (number of employees, location, type of companies you work with, etc.).

ParadoxLabs is a web development company based in Lancaster, PA. We’re a small team of 9 that delivers big results for the medium to large companies we serve. As a Magento Silver Solution Partner, we provide a wide range of development services and support for ecommerce websites on the Magento platform.

What type and size of companies do you have as clients?

We typically handle the mid-market to enterprise level companies, but have worked with smaller businesses on various projects. Our clients come to us with ecommerce needs in industries ranging from niche-craft suppliers to medical supplies & equipment to apparel and more.

What comes to mind when you see this topic?

Building relationships. Yes, it’s important to be knowledgeable and to demonstrate that knowledge to a client in order to earn their trust in your product or service, but you also need to earn their trust in you and your company. Building a relationship with your main point of contact and those at the C-level earns a client’s trust in you and in your company and is one of the best ways to ensure a long-term partnership.

C-level execs have the power to end your involvement with their company; if you wait until they want to leave to build the relationship, you have quite the negative first impression to overcome and even more to prove the higher the price of your product/service is. If you’ve built a relationship with these execs and shown them your value from the beginning, your relationship has more intrinsic value and is viewed as more valuable.

What are the best practices when it comes to this issue?

Involvement, education, and communication. C-level executives may not need to be involved in every step of the process, but they should be involved during the on-boarding/kick-off process in order to establish a relationship. They need to know who you are, why your product/service matters to them, and what you’ll be doing for the price they’re paying.

You need to answer one question, “What’s in it for me?” Whether through numbers, charts, case studies, or other materials, you need to show them how you can help them. Telling them the answer is a presentation – showing them is a conversation and the start to building a successful long-term relationship.

C-level executives who have that kind of personal investment in the relationship and who see the intrinsic value in a partnership with you are invaluable to every step in the process, from initial contract to fulfillment.